Upgrade and Outrage - Part Two

Upgrades and Outrage - Part Two

The machines arrived. They got assembled. They're both runnin'...NOW! Wasnt' that way from the git go, which brings me to the "outrage"part.

First...delays in shipping. OK, so it was a helluva deal, and they got swamped with orders. I can relate to that. Planning bein' what it is, it ain't always exact to the penny or piece. But, I was the one had to find out they were delayed. They coulda sent an email, phone call...carrier pigeon. I wouldn't have cared. The important thing is THEY shoulda let ME know, not the other way around. Oh, well, the storefronts may change but it's still the trucks and trains that move the meat and potatoes!

Waited patiently...for me. Already had my old system sold to a friend, so I busied myself with scrubbing everything off I didn't want to give away or have seen. I WAS gonna just format the hard drive and just give him the machine and some CD's, but he's a newbie to this stuff, like I was a few years ago. I "took pity" is the bottom line. It was well scrubbed, but I left it WITH Windows 95, some applications, even some little toys and trinkets I've accumulated over the years.

Finally, stuff started tricklin' in. First the new monitor. A KDS 17-inch honker that has a VERY sharp screen image. Nice controls for fiddlin' with, and its clarity seems a tad better than what I've got on my 17-inch IBM monitor. Go figure.

The machines have names, by the way. These are the "Butt" sisters, "Bitty" and "Bertha." The first to arrive was Bitty. That's the 266MHz machine. Bertha is the big sister...a 350MHz machine...MINE! I'm glad Bitty showed up first, cause I figured I'd have a "Lessons Learned" list ready by the time I dug into Bertha. Boy, was THAT an understatement!

Bitty came with Windows98 preloaded. "Outta the box and onto the Web," they said. Yeah, right! It was outta the box and into two days of mind-clobberin' chaos!

Microsoft lauds Windows98 as "THE Internet-Ready" operating system. Already set up to sign you up to a service provider, give you a home page to start from, provide all kinds of "introductory" and "special" packages you can buy to make your surfing easier. One click. Credit card at the ready, of course. Free ain't free no more. Not on the web.

Anyway, I set up Bitty, boot her up and it seems like everything works. There's a big sigh of relief right here...which was definitely premature! After a little fiddlin' with

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